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Arsenic biotransformation by cyanobacteria from mining areas: evidences from culture experiments

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Abstract

Elucidating the role of cyanobacteria in the biotransformation of arsenic (As) oxyanions is crucial to understand the biogeochemical cycle of this element and indicate species with potential for its bioremediation. In this study, we determined the EC50 for As(III) and As(V) and evaluated the biotransformation of As by Synechococcus sp. through high-performance liquid chromatography hyphenated to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS) and X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (XAFS). Synechococcus sp. exhibited higher sensitivity to As(III) with an EC50, 96 h of 6.64 mg L−1 that was approximately 400-fold lower than that for As(V). Even though the cells were exposed to concentrations of As(III) (6 mg L−1) approximately 67-fold lower than those of As(V) (400 mg L−1), similar intracellular concentrations of As (60.0 μg g−1) were observed after 30 days. As(V) was the predominant intracellular As species followed by As(III). Furthermore, organic As species such as monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) were observed in higher proportions after exposure to As(III). The differential toxicity among As oxyanions indicates that determining the redox state of As in the environment is fundamental to estimate toxicity risks to aquatic organisms. Synechococcus sp. demonstrated potential for its application in bioremediation due to the high accumulation of As and production of As organic compounds notably after exposure to As(III).

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Acknowledgments

We thank Jaime Mello of the Universidade Federal de Viçosa and Laboratório de Análises Químicas from Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering/UFMG for the arsenic measurements. We are grateful to Luzia Modolo, Cléber Figueredo, and Arnola Rietzler for their valuable suggestions. The financial support was provided by the National Institute of Science and Technology on Mineral Resources, Water and Biodiversity-INCT-Acqua and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG). We thank Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for the scholarship granted to Maione Wittig Franco and the financial and logistic support provided by the Laboratório Nacional de Luz Syncrotron for XAFS measurements. Finally, we thank Pró-Reitoria de Pesquisa/UFMG for providing funds for the English text editing.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Limnologia, Ecotoxicologia e Ecologia Aquática, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais–UFMG, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

    Maione W. Franco, Fernanda A. G. Ferreira, Diego G. F. Pujoni & Francisco A. R. Barbosa

  2. Departamento de Engenharia Metalúrgica e de Materiais, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, 60020-181, CE, Brazil

    Igor F. Vasconcelos

  3. Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas, Universidade Federal do ABC, Santo André, 09210-580, SP, Brazil

    Bruno L. Batista

  4. Departamento de Farmácia Social, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

    Sérgia M. S. Magalhães

  5. Laboratório de Toxicologia e Essencialidade de Metais, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto–USP, Ribeirão Preto, 14040-903, SP, Brazil

    Fernando Barbosa Jr

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  1. Maione W. Franco
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  8. Francisco A. R. Barbosa
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Correspondence to Maione W. Franco.

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Franco, M.W., Ferreira, F.A.G., Vasconcelos, I.F. et al. Arsenic biotransformation by cyanobacteria from mining areas: evidences from culture experiments. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 18607–18615 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5425-3

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